If so, the Heat would be struggling instead of cruising through the postseason. A day after Wade aggravated his sore right knee in Game 4 against the Chicago Bulls, Spoelstra was on the defensive about his superstar.

"He's helping us win right now," Spoelstra said Tuesday. "OK. One of these days boxscores will have your plus-minus impact and maybe eventually people will start to look at a boxscore differently and eventually a new generation of fans, the media, staff will see that's the most important one and he's having that impact."

The Heat have lost just once in the playoffs despite Wade averaging only 12.3 points, nearly nine below his season average. After Monday's six-point effort against the Bulls, he is averaging 11.3 points in the series. The Heat, ahead 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, can close it out Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The decline in Wade's numbers is often contributed to the injury that has bothered him since early March. He is dealing with a deep bone bruise on the knee that, despite a week off between the first and second rounds, remains an issue.

It resurfaced Monday when Wade collided knees with Bulls forward Jimmy Butler in the second quarter of the Heat's 88-65 victory. Spoelstra took offense to the injury being the focus, even though the Heat are one win from advancing to the conference finals for a third consecutive year.

"I understand the interest level in it, but what you dislike about team sports is people lose sight of the main thing being the main thing," Spoelstra said. "Dwyane's proven himself as a warrior, he's helping us win and at the end of the day we're up 3-1 with a chance to close out. We knew going into this series that it wasn't going to be about averages and that was one thing we had to have a discussion about before the series."

Wade's status is "day-to-day," according to Spoelstra. Unlike last year, there is no structural damage. He did not need to have the knee drained as was the case last season against the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs.

The Heat will evaluate him Wednesday before making a decision if he plays in Game 5. They were in a similar situation in the close-out game against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. With a comfortable 3-0 lead, the team chose to rest Wade.

The Heat won 88-77, improving to 12-2 in games they have played without Wade. All but one of the absences was injury-related.

"We all know what he's dealing with," Spoelstra said. "He's been dealing with that for the last 6-7 weeks. He's day to day. He'll come in and get treatment. We'll evaluate him (Tuesday). We'll reevaluate him (Wednesday) and go from there.''

Wade said Monday he was "frustrated" with the situation because of how the injury has lingered. He first suffered it against the Orlando Magic on March 6, aggravating it in later games versus the Boston Celtics and New Orleans Hornets.

It has been common for him to experience discomfort during practices. When he walked off the court grimacing in pain against the Bulls, it was the first time the public saw what he was enduring.

"This is the first time y'all (media) have seen it," Wade said. "Other times, I've been able to not show y'all."

The knee was re-taped by team trainers on the sideline. Wade said it involved moving his kneecap off to the side to prevent it from rubbing against the brace.

"I know what to do," Wade said. "I've been playing with it for almost two months now. I'll make the adjustment if need be."

The situation reminded LeBron James of a similar experience he had during the 2010 playoffs. James was hobbled with a right elbow injury the second half of the season.

"It lingered throughout the whole playoffs," James said. "You just try to go out there and give it all you got. It sucks because you know you can do things that the injury isn't allowing you to do it … I know what he's going through."

Teammates have been aware of Wade's issues for a while. He has just refused to let it become a distraction.

"He won't tell us what he's going through," forward Udonis Haslem said. "He won't make excuses but we know he's not feeling great. He's out there and still one of the best players in this league. This is the reason we have depth. He'll come around. He's my brother. I know he'll get better. When we need him the most, he'll be there."